corinasays: July 2014

We could have taken the sealed road all the way, but we decided instead to take the unsealed but Gibb River Road (660 kms). The road is magnificent in places, a smooth ochre sandy surface, but most of the time, it is hard corrugation and you NEED off road wheels, and preferably a Nissan patrol or a Prado.

We had a Pajero without proper 4WD wheels. we made it ... 'nearly'!

On the way, we saw Bell Gorge, after one night camping in Silent Grove National Park, then after a short drive, we saw Galvan Gorge, much cuter and fun for swimming. Then, it was a long drive to Elisabeth Station where we spent the night camping. The night camping there was cold (1C) but we were well equipped and started a fire after dinner. We had booked a wholesome country style dinner i the host's farmhouse, and we shared the table with a farmers couple visiting as well. I had to ask them how they came here because they said they were in Ayers Rocks (Uluru) yesterday, and it was just not possible for them to be in this remote station this evening: they actually 'flew' here from their farm by private plane (he, not 'she' piloted the plane. Why not you? I asked. She replied 'you know men with their toys' she smiled :). My son was delighted with the country food and took many serves of the home made meat pie and roasted vegetables.

In the early morning, we continued our drive on the GBB. We saw more and more cars stranded - one car in Silent Grove had to be towed away, but after that, it was punctured cars all the way. My husband said we were lucky so far. I said « chut » (means be silent in French), and fifteen minutes after, we had one puncture. We cursed our optimism for not having taken a second spare wheel as recommended by the Broome Tourism Bureau. Now there was no room for another puncture.

We became increasingly cautious about driving on rocks, and slowed down as we made our way to Home Valley Station Soon, we got in trouble with a wobbly wheel and the brakes failing. As we found out, after the first puncture, we did not lock the wheel studs hard enough for corrugated road conditions and we damaged the wheel rodes as a result. Consequently, we had to constantly tighten the remaining bolts and studs for the last 50 kms. This way, the breaks were working perfectly again, and fortunately, we did not get another puncture. We made it to the next station (El Questro) without losing a wheel and without having to go through the dreadful +1000 Aud remote tow away fee.

The biggest problem was getting spare parts (new studs and rodes). They had to be shipped from Melbourne via Darwin to Kununurra, and then brought from Kununurra to ELQ station. This was no small feat: it took 6 days!

Fortunately, we found ourselves in one of the best place in the world to be standed - we went barramundi fishing, went on long walks across the range (Saddle Creek walk and Telegraph Hill walk) or along sandy rivers with the kids (Champagne Springs walk), went cruising in Chamberlain Gorges, swam in 32°C Zebedee Hot Springs and enjoyed country style hospitality and music in the evenings and Matso Ginger Beer! Nights were cosy in the tent after a good damper and grilled marshmallows in the fire.

I got the chance to read the excellent 'Jandamarra and The Bunuba Resistance' book from H. Pedersen about the aboriginal resistance in the Kimberleys the time of first settlement.

One nuisance was that unless you wished to pretend to have long showers in order to monopolise a toilet cabin power point (as my daughter did on one occasion), there was no way you could recharge any device! I tried to recharge my mobile with a solar panel but it took 4h30mns for 3/4 full. Now multiply by 4. We ended up buying a card game! There was an 11 years old girl wearing a tee shirt saying 'Home is where your Wifi connects automatically'.

The higher nuisance was a midnight 'cow fright'. My husband and I heard a cow calling what seemed 50 cms from the tent around midnight. We looked at each other puzzled. Then, we saw one cow passing by. We laughed. Shortly after, we hear more cows calling: 17 cows passed by our tent! If you like playing Chinese Shadows in the tent, you can try it for yourself. There seemed disproportionate sized cows, like bush spirits and there was no end to it. I wanted to take the family to the toilet block, but thought twice, it was too late, the cows would have panicked and it would have made things worse. Then, I thought about my experience with cows at my grand father's farm in France, but I realised that these cows would not be commanded by a rod, it would have to be by a horse rider with whip. Oh yes, they were selling these whips at the station general store. I would get one tomorrow morning - just jokin'

The children slept through all that unaware and unphased.

They were not to be frightened easily now that we had driven through 50 cm deep rivers with the car, saw two king brown snakes on the road (one already dead one and one alive who slithered away into the bush) and that they had swam in rivers with freshies, and had accepted that unless it does not have a sharp nose (saltie), a crocodile is not to be feared. My son had been told by an Aborigine man that only the 'chicky' ones eat people.

After five days, we moved to a cabin, and the car got ready shortly after that.

We made our way to Kununurra, then Timber Creek, and we stopped over in Katherine. As soon as we passed the border, 'everything is bigger' in the Northern Territory as they say. Well, for once, you get an extra half an hour to spare timezone, and you can now drive 130 km an hour on straight roads, except that you have to be aware of the occasional bump in the road (it is not a European highway), road trains, buffalos, and bush fires (two).

How can I describe Katherine? We must have been unlucky? We looked in the lonely planet and booked a room at random - what a mistake!

We should have been alerted 'not all was well' when we made our way to the reception: a woman was being arrested in the car park. As we checked in, the receptionist was dismissive of the event ... I suppose it was not our business, and these things happen. The door locks were broken, this happens as well ... except hum ... that we were on the ground floor. The neighbours were very loud - was it the soccer world cup or a state of origins game? We had lost track after so long in the bush.

In the middle of the night, suddenly, I hear a big crash noise in the street, then all street lights in front of our motel block shut down. Then, in seconds, two police cars with flashlights parked 30 meters from our bedroom. I immediately thought someone was hiding around our block and shut down the lights. There was no one at the reception desk. I spent most of the night looking through the window panes for any movement.

In the morning, I ask the receptionist, she is like me, a migrant, except that she does understand even less than me what is going on around her. Her son (a toddler) is playing with a frying pan on the floor of the reception desk.

Police? she says? Oh yes, yesterday evening for that woman.

No, not that one! At midnight, the two police cars in the courtyard ?

She looks at me oblivious. She did not know what I was talking about.

A man in his forties overheard the conversation and comes to me. He explains that the police was chasing a aboriginal man who lost control of the vehicle he had stolen after bumping in the pavement and losing a wheel. He then crashed into a power poll, and tried to run off. The man I was talking to caught him and an ambulance took the injured man to the hospital.

That is not all, the man says... (for me, that would have do)

After that, the news of the power poll being down went across town like lighting, and three bottle shops were burgled subsequently.

I checked the internet:

I had become acquainted to 'that member of the public'.

It was nice to meet you Katherine, but that will do for now... maybe one Rod and Gun shop too many.

We nevertheless visited an aboriginal cultural centre in the city centre before making our way up to Darwin, following our Gorgeous path again.

The first gorge was in Nitmiluk National Park - Edith Falls where we had a swim. There was a cryptic sign at the entrance of the park saying that 'careful management' of salt crocodile was in place, so that we should not worry swimming there. The 'careful management' consisted as far as I could see in one huge stainless steel cage placed at the entrance of the river going toward the fall ... 'a bit of a worry' nevertheless, shall we?

The usual argument I heard from other travellers was 'I never thought I would swim in a river where there are crocs but since everyone seems to be doing it' and a smile! Yep, this was the same with me, and I could not help imagine what happens when it comes to fight climate change, the same, we all do 'like the others' ... sigh

The last Gorgeous gorge was Florence Fall in Litchfield National Park. we had a last swim there, headed off to Darwin Night Market (open until 10pm that day) and arrived on the beach for the final act of a Red Sunset Show. We sampled great Indonesian food that we ate in tranquility on the beach dunes overlooking the Timor Sea. We finally took our car back to Darwin Airport before a 3h30 Tiger Air flight back to Brisbane.